One Way Ride - A Halloween Story
by sandybeliever
Summary: I borrowed the story from X-Files' "The Ghosts That Stole Christmas." Since it is almost Halloween, I thought the guys should have a little terror in their lives. No copyright infringement intended.


**One-way Ride**

Hutch leaned his head back and closed his eyes while Starsky gave him a ride home. It had been a trying day. Halloween always was in Bay City. Not only did they have to deal with kids all day since it was a Saturday, the city freaks were out in droves too. After a few minutes he looked up, expecting to see his neighborhood.

"Starsky…"

"Yeah?"

"Where the hell are we?"

"Wait and see," Starsky said, a smirk playing around his lips.

"Aw, come on. I just want to go home, shut all the lights out and hide from the last of the trick-or-treaters."

"It's late. I'm sure both our doors are egged by now."

Hutch let out a frustrated sigh. He didn't look forward to cleaning that up and now Starsky was making them even later. "Let's just go home."

"Nuh uh."

Hutch sighed again and leaned back against the headrest. "I'm not hungry so don't expect me to go into some dive and have dinner."

"It's not a restaurant."

Hutch looked over at Starsky. "What then?"

Starsky's face broke out in a grin. "We're here."

Hutch looked out the windshield and could just make out a wrought iron gate in the moonlight.

"Where the hell are we?"

Starsky shook his head and cracked a grin. A cranky Hutch was a swearing Hutch. He slowly pulled the Torino up to the gate.

Hutch leaned forward and peered up at the large Victorian house beyond. "It's pitch black. Can't be a party."

"Nope."

"Good because I'm not going to any goddamn party," Hutch glowered up at the house then sat back and crossed his arms.

Starsky shut off the car and turned to face his partner. "This is the Cooper Estate."

"That's nice. Let's go."

"Aw, come on, Hutch. Dontcha wanna know about it?"

"No," Hutch said simply as he stared straight ahead.

"When I was about 14 my friends brought me here and dared me to go in. It was a Halloween night just like this."

"Fascinating."

Starsky scoffed at Hutch's attitude and reached into the back seat to pulled out two flashlights, handing one to Hutch. "Wait, what is this for?"

Starsky didn't reply but with a grin got out of the car and walked through the partially open gate. Hutch rolled down his window and leaned out.

"I'm not going in there with you."

"Suit yourself," Starsky called over his shoulder.

Hutch rolled the window back up, tossed the flashlight onto Starsky's seat and crossed his arms again. He watched as his partner faded into the darkness as he made his way to the front of the house. After a moment, Hutch grabbed the light and got out of the Torino mumbling obscenities under his breath. He made his way up the path after his best friend.

Starsky was busy picking the lock on the front door. "What the hell are you doing, Starsky?"

"Oh, so you decided to come along?" Starsky's face brightened as he felt the door unlock.

"Why do you have to come back? Wasn't that one visit enough?"

Starsky turned the knob and pushed the door in. "That's just it. I chickened out back then." He walked into the dark house.

Hutch peered in after him, took a breath and followed mumbling, "Oh, great. And you waited to bring me along. Lucky me." Starsky rolled his eyes at his friend and looked around the dimly lit foyer. "So why were you afraid to come in this old place? It's just a house."

Starsky turned back to Hutch as he pocketed the tools he had used to open the door. "Just a house? This is 1501 Larkspur Lane."

"Yeah, I caught that much from the sign on the front gate," Hutch answered dryly.

Starsky leaned toward Hutch, his voice was low and deep. "1917 was a time of dark, dark despair. Tragedy was a visitor on every doorstep. Here in this house, tragedy struck by the owners' own hands. Maurice and Lydia, driven by fear of separation, forged a lover's pact. They killed themselves on Halloween night and their ghosts haunt this house every year on this date."

"Bullshit," Hutch said refolding his arms across his chest.

"What?"

"You heard me. That's bullshit."

"You don't believe in ghosts?"

"No, I do not."

"I thought everyone believed in them," Starsky said as he looked around the foyer.

"Where did you get that idea, Starsk?" Just as Hutch spoke, a loud clap of thunder rang out and the house lit up as lightning streaked across the sky. Both men jumped.

"Don't believe, huh?"

"It startled me."

"Sure." Starsky looked up at the ceiling as the sound of steps was heard. The grandfather clock nearby chimed making them both spin around. Hutch saw the time on the clock and pulled out his pocket watch. The grandfather clock was exactly on time at eleven o'clock.

Another flash of lightning lit the foyer and a gust of wind blew through, slamming the front door. Starsky looked up at the stairs to the left as Hutch went back and tried the front door.

"It's stuck, Starsky."

"I think the spirits are among us," Starsky said eerily and Hutch rolled his eyes at him. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what? All I've heard is thunder since we came in. That and this loud old clock. Help me get this door open."

"I hear something upstairs." Starsky headed to the staircase. "Come on, there is nothing to be afraid of."

"I am not afraid."

"Ghosts are benevolent entities. Most of them, anyway." Starsky headed up the stairs.

Another flash of lightning partially blinded Hutch. He looked toward the front windows and saw the outline of woman. He blinked a few times and looked again. The figure was gone. Hutch gulped and headed after Starsky who had stopped half way up the staircase.

"Shh, what was that?"

"What was what?" Hutch asked, glancing back over his shoulder at the spot where he thought he had seen the woman.

"I hear movement up there."

"Starsk, it is just tricks of the mind. Don't get caught up in your imagination. You've watched too many scary movies."

Starsky continued up the stairs and began trying to open doors in the long hallway but they were all locked. He gave up and walked back to Hutch's side. Suddenly, there was a loud click and a door to their left swung open. The two detectives looked from the door to each other then back to the door. Starsky gulped. Hutch sighed and headed into the room.

"I've got ya back, Hutch." Starsky heard Hutch mumble _sure you do_ from inside the room. Starsky stepped forward and leaned inside the room which was brightly lit. It was a two level library. He stepped onto the balcony that went around the top of the room. There was a ladder on the left leading down into the main part of the room.

"Starsky, did it ever occur to you that there are not ghosts but actual people living here."

"No one lives here, Hutch."

"Out in the car, there was not a light on yet look at this." Hutch waved his hand around the bright room. "And the grandfather clock in the foyer is keeping perfect time, I might add. He then climbed down the ladder and walked over to the fireplace. Starsky scrambled after him.

Hutch picked up the fire poker and pushed at the logs in the fireplace. Smoke rose up and embers began to glow beneath them. Hutch looked up at Starsky. "Don't look so disappointed." Hutch replaced the poker as he smiled at his partner.

"Yeah, but Hutch, every couple that ever lived here has met a tragic end. Three double murders, all on Halloween." Just as Starsky finished, the lights flickered wildly and the door up on the balcony slammed shut.

As Starsky headed for the ladder he heard Hutch from behind him. "What a minute, Starsky. Look at this."

Starsky turned around quickly, his face showing his trepidation. "What?"

"Look at the floor." Hutch pointed down at the boards in the wooden floor near the fireplace. They were vibrating and shaking.

Starsky turned back to climb the ladder but it had disappeared.

"Hutch," Starsky said, his voice quaking.

"I think there is a hiding space under the floor boards." Hutch picked up the fireplace poker again and stared to pry at the loose boards in the floor. After prying up two boards, Hutch stooped down and peered into the hole. "There is a body under here." Hutch pulled up another board and leaned in closer to study the decomposed body. He looked under the boards. "I think there is another one here." Hutch started pulling up the floor again.

"Let's just get out of here, Hutch."

"What? Starsky, there has been a crime committed here." Hutch managed to get more boards up and studied the two bodies. Starsky came over and leaned over to see them. "It's two men. Looks like they were shot to death.

Starsky stared at the body of the man closest to him then backed away. "Hutch," he said pointing down into the hole in the floor. "Hutch!"

Hutch turned to look at Starsky and saw that he was as white as a sheet. "What?"

"He has on the same clothes as I do."

Hutch looked down and saw that the figure did indeed have on faded blue jeans and an old tan leather jacket. The figure's face was just bone but his curly dark hair remained. Hutch smirked and stood up. "How embarrassing. Obviously this dead guy didn't have any better taste than you do." He felt Starsky grab onto his sleeve.

"Yeah? Well, that guy is wearing your outfit."

Hutch looked over to the right and saw that the other dead body was wearing khaki pants and a black leather car coat. Light blond hair was pooled around the skull. He looked down at himself in horror. "Starsky," he said as he backed away. "That's us."

Both the detectives ran in tandem to a set of double doors across the room. They flung it open and ran into the next room. They stopped short, tumbling into each other. The room they now stood in was an exact duplicate of the two-level library they had just left. They stepped back and looked through the doorway then back into the room they stood in. The fireplace smoldered and the bodies lay in the open hole in the floor.

Hutch looked over at Starsky then headed into the second room, crossed over and opened the double doors. They stepped into yet another duplicate library.

"What is going on, Hutch?" Starsky's voice trembled.

"I don't know but we are going to find out. I'm going to go through that door. You wait here."

"And you think that you'll come through this door where I'm standing?"

"I don't know," Hutch said nervously. He crossed the room and stepped through the door. Starsky looked into the room where they had just come from but Hutch did not appear. Starsky ran toward the door where his partner had walked through. The door slammed before he reached it.

"Starsky?" Hutch's disembodied voice called out. Starsky couldn't tell where it was coming from. He pulled at the locked door to try to open it. Finally he took out his weapon, aimed at the handle and shot it off. He pulled the door open and walked into a brick wall that blocked the entire doorway.

Lightning flashed through the windows along the top level of the library just as the lights all went out. Starsky took out the flashlight he was carrying and walked across to the other door. He yelled out Hutch's name.

"Hey!"

Starsky whirled around to find an older man standing in front of the bricked up doorway. He had on a cardigan and an old fishing hat. "Who are you?"

"I should be asking you that. You are in my house, after all. I want you out. Let me show you the door."

"Oh, that's funny."

"How's that?"

"Have you seen the door?" Starsky pointed over the man's shoulder at the bricked up opening.

The old man glanced over his shoulder. "Yeah, and?"

"What do you see?"

"I see a door with the lock shot off. Are you paying for that?"

"That's a door with a brick wall behind it. You have been playing tricks on me," Starsky said angrily, his fear fading.

"I don't know any tricks."

"You've been playing tricks on us since we got here."

"Oh? So there are more of you, I take it?"

"That's funny coming from a ghost."

The old man burst out laughing, startling Starsky who jumped back.

"You are a ghost hunter, aren't ya? We've had a lot of them over the years but you are the strangest one of all."

"Strange, huh? Like those men under the floor?" Starsky pointed over at the opening in the floor but realized it was gone. The floor looked as it did when they arrived, untouched. "How did you do that?"

"I didn't _do_ anything."

"There were corpses here, bodies buried under the floor boards."

The man reached out and tried to touch Starsky's arm but Starsky pulled away. "Why don't you have a seat, son."

Starsky looked from man to the floor. He let out a long sigh and sat down, rubbing his hands over his face.

"Ya drink?"

"No…not much."

"Take drugs?"

"No!"

"Are you impulsive and reckless?"

Starsky looked up slowly and give the man a sheepish half grin.

"I'm in the field of mental health. I specialize in disorders and manias as they pertain to pathological behavior."

"Really?"

"You are prone to obsessive compulsive behavior."

"Excuse me?"

"You're waving a gun around my house, raving like a lunatic about an imaginary brick wall."

Starsky looked over at the door behind where the man was standing. The brick wall was still there. He looked back at the old man, his face full of confusion.

"I bet you think you are some sort of vigilante."

"As a matter of fact, I'm a police detective."

"Sure you are. You are a lonely man. You're looking for meaning and significance here which your pathetic social maladjustment makes impossible to find elsewhere. You always spend nights alone."

"I'm _not_ alone."

"More self delusion," the man said with pity.

"I came here with my partner; he's somewhere in the house."

"Ah. A male partner. A man with whom you spend a strange amount of time."

Starsky bristled. "He's my friend. My _best _friend and I'd just like to find him."

"That's easy," the old man said as he turned and walked through the door where only moments ago there had been brick. He turned back to Starsky. "Brick wall, huh? More like 'brick wall.'" He pointed at his temple, implying Starsky was not quite right in the head. He disappeared through the door. Starsky jumped up from the chair and headed after the man but instead smacked his nose on the brick wall.

In another version of the library, Hutch walked around the room in the dark. The double doors opened and a woman came into the room. She was dressed in a white nightgown with a white robe over it. Hutch startled and fumbled for his gun "Freeze. Bay City Police."

The older woman clutched her robe. "Police? Oh my goodness, I thought you were a ghost."

"I can assure you that I am not. I'm looking for my partner."

"The stocky fellow with the dark blues eyes?"

"You've seen him?"

"Yes. With you…in the foyer earlier," she smiled.

"I _thought_ I saw someone. That was you," Hutch breathed out in relief. "I'm sorry to have frightened you. It's just that we found bodies."

"Bodies, where?" The woman took a step closer despite Hutch still aiming his gun at her.

Hutch turned around and pointed behind him. "Right…" The floor was intact with no sign of the bodies.

The woman relaxed and smiled at Hutch. "Now you look like _you've_ seen a ghost." Her expression darkened. "There are ghosts in this house, you know."

Hutch's arm that had relaxed suddenly tense and he aimed the gun back at the woman."Who _are _you?"

"I live here, thank you very much." The woman was again smiling sweetly at Hutch.

"Where is my partner?"

"Why are you pointing that gun at me?"

"There were corpses _right there_ in the floor." Hutch backed up to the door and pulled at the handle. It opened to a solid brick wall.

The woman cackled at him. "I think the ghosts have been playing tricks on _you_."

"I don't believe in ghosts. I just want to find my partner."

"_He_ believes in ghosts." The woman shook her head sadly. "You poor thing. Spending a Halloween with him. No family, no children. Running around chasing things you don't even believe in." She slipped closer to Hutch.

Hutch reached up with his other hand and steadied the gun. "Don't come any closer, ma'am."

"I can see it in your eyes. Intimacy through co-dependency with your partner."

"What?"

"You are fooling yourself about why you are here. You pretend you followed him out of loyalty or friendship but you know the truth."

Hutch's eyes narrowed. "And what truth is that?"

"That your only joy in life is proving him wrong."

"You don't scare me. And you do not live here. This isn't your house."

"One wouldn't think so the way you're treating me, young man."

"Why is all the furniture covered?" Hutch snapped out.

"We are having the house painted," the woman sneered. She took another step toward Hutch and quietly said, "Boo."

An old man came into the room behind Hutch who swung around then stumbled back to be able to see both of them. "Hold it right there. Stay where you are!"

The man looked over at the woman. "We sure do attract them, don't we?" He smiled at her and she giggled.

"Where is Starsky?"

The old man turned toward Hutch. "Oh, is that his name? He'll be along."

"Move over there – both of you, against the wall."

They both move toward the wall. "This violates our civil rights," the man stated.

"Put your hands up." With a smirk, they both complied. As the woman let go of her robe, it opened showing a huge gaping hole through her torso. Hutch's jaw dropped. He slowly moved closer and bent down to look through the hole. He could see the wall behind her. Lightning flashed from the high windows. Hutch blinked and realized the man and woman had disappeared into thin air. He spun around to try to see where they had gone.

In the other library, Starsky pulled a table over to where the ladder had once stood. He then dragged a chair over and hefted it up onto the table. Climbing up onto the table and then the chair, he grabbed onto the balcony and began to pull himself up.

"Are you Starsky?"

Starsky almost fell when she spoke but recovered and pulled himself to his feet. "And you are?"

"Why are you using my furniture as a ladder?"

Starsky moved toward the door where she entered. "Excuse me," he said sarcastically.

The woman folded her arms across her chest. "No, you can't get out that way." Starsky slowly reached out and poked her in the shoulder. When he realized she was real, he took her by the shoulders and moved her away from the door.

"Masher," she hissed.

Starsky, who was already half way through the door, took a step back to face her. "Frump." He stepped forward but found nothing but another brick wall. He let out a frustrated breath and shut the door to confront the woman but she is no longer behind it. He whirled as she started speaking to him. She was climbing down the ladder to the lower level of the library. The table and chair were back where Starsky had found them.

"I don't appreciate being called a frump or being man handled. Not at this hour."

"You _are_ a ghost," Starsky called down to her from above.

She tisked her tongue. "More names."

Starsky quickly climbed down the ladder. "It's you. You are Lydia and that was Maurice. But…you've aged."

"I hope your partner finds you a lot more charming than I do." She walked off and looked up at a shelf. A photo album lifted from the shelf on its own and floated into her hands. Starsky looked on in interested terror.

She sat down in an arm chair and opened the album. "We were young and beautiful like you and your partner. Look at Maurice. He didn't have a gut back then. Why did you come here? Did you plan a suicide pact because you are full of misery and despair?"

Starsky was so engrossed in meeting a real live ghost, he relaxed and chuckled. "No."

Lydia sighed. "Oh, well maybe that was your partner that felt that way."

"What about him?" Starsky asked, moving closer.

Lydia looked up at Starsky with a smirk. "You knew this house was haunted. A murder/suicide is all about trust."

"I thought you had a lover's pact," Starsky said as he leaned against the fireplace mantle.

"No matter," Lydia said with a wave of her hand. "The outcome is pretty much the same." She stood up and opened her robe showing the gaping bloody hole. Starsky gagged and turned away in horror then looked back as she pulled the robe closed again.

"I don't show my hole to anyone," Lydia said.

"Don't show it to me!"

"Well, you won't be going home to hand out treats to the kiddies."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Starsky asked suspiciously. Lydia grinned back at him.

"Are you trying to tell me that Hutch is going to kill me? He would never hurt me."

"Yeah yeah, suit yourself. But if _you_ shoot first, for him the rest is an act of faith."

"He wouldn't shoot me," Starsky said adamantly.

"Maybe he shoots himself," Lydia said as she flipped her graying bangs off her face.

"I wouldn't let him do that. He _wouldn't_ do that."

"The bodies under the floor…maybe this is a secret suicide pact."

"Look, lady. We don't have any kind of pact. We came here for some Halloween fun."

"_You_ came here for that. He didn't have a choice. Here take this." Lydia held out Starsky's gun to him. He reached into his holster to discover it really wasn't there. "Think of this as the last miserable Halloween you'll ever have to have." The gun fell into Starsky's open hand as Lydia faded away and disappeared.

In the other room, Hutch was still trying to get out of the dark room. He tried the double door yet again but it was still locked. In frustration, he ran across the room and tried the other but it was also locked.

"I locked it."

Hutch whirled around to find the old man sitting in a chair staring intently at him.

Hutch pulled his gun and held it along with his flashlight. "Stay where you are."

"You're going to need that gun to defend yourself from that crazy partner of yours."

"What have you done with Starsky?"

"Kept himself from his own mad devices – for now. Do you have any idea why he brought you here…on this night?"

Hutch shook his head in confusion. "This is like a bad dream."

"And here you are waving a gun at me. Like your partner did."

Hutch heard Starsky calling his name and banging on one of the doors, he wasn't sure which.

Maurice pointed toward the door. "Do you know how seriously disturbed that man is? How dark and lonely? What he is capable of?"

Hutch yelled over his shoulder. "Starsky!"

"He's acting out on an unconscious yearning. That's why he didn't bring you home and came here. A deep seated terror of being alone."

_Hutch are you there?_

"I'm here, Starsky!"

_Open the door, Hutch._

Hutch aimed his gun at Maurice. "Open the door."

Maurice got up and pulled a set of skeleton keys from his sweater pocket. "'I've seen it happen many times in this house."

"I don't believe you, just open the door," Hutch replied. Maurice tried to say something more but Hutch cut him off. "I said _open the door_!"

Maurice chose a key and unlocked the door. As it opened, Starsky pushed his way in, his gun also drawn. He aimed it at Maurice. "Where is Hutch?"

Hutch let out a relieved sigh. "Starsk, there you are."

Starsky suddenly turned and pointed his gun at Hutch. Without another word, he fired a shot that whizzed past Hutch's shoulder.

Hutch drew his arms in as if trying to make himself a smaller target. "Starsky, what are you doing?"

Starsky fired his gun again, hitting the wall behind Hutch's head.

"Starsky! What are you doing? Stop!" Hutch yelled out.

Starsky shook his head, his face grim. "There's no getting out of here, Hutch."

Hutch backed up almost to the wall behind him. "Don't come any closer, put the gun down." Hutch reluctantly aimed his weapon at his best friend.

"It's you or me, Hutch. One of us has to do it."

"We don't have to do this, Starsky!"

"Oh, yes we do. What's waiting for us out there? More loneliness? Then 365 days of more loneliness." The grim look he had changed to an evil sneer making Hutch's stomach jump into his throat.

"Starsky, I don't believe what you are saying. I don't believe a word of it."

Starsky fired one more time. Hutch stumbled back, his mouth agape. Looking down, he saw the blood seeping from the wound in his abdomen. He slowly fell to the floor as Starsky looked on. Once he reached the floor, Hutch curled onto his side, his gut burning. Starsky stepped closer and leaned over him.

"Happy Halloween, Hutch." Starsky raised his Luger to his temple but before he could pull the trigger, Maurice grabbed him from behind and they both stumbled out of the door where Starsky had come in.

Hutch clutched at his stomach, desperately trying to stem the flow of blood. A minute later, Starsky ran into the room calling Hutch's name. He found him lying in a pool of blood. Starsky knelt down and reached out. "What happened, Hutch?" Starsky asked, his heart clutching in his chest.

Hutch opened his eyes and squinted up at his partner. "Starsky, is that you? I didn't believe it."

Starsky sat down close to Hutch and pulled Hutch's hands away from his bleeding abdomen. "Believe what, Buddy?"

"I didn't believe you'd do it." Hutch struggled to lift his gun. He pointed it directly at Starsky.

"What are you doing?" Starsky didn't move away, confused as to what Hutch was doing.

"Happy Halloween, _Buddy_," Hutch said sarcastically as he pulled the trigger.

Starsky was catapulted back. He writhed on the floor, clutching at his own stomach as blood seeped through his fingers.

Hutch opened his eyes and looked around the room. Starsky was no longer there. An old Victrola in the corner played a scratchy rendition of 'Highway to Hell.'

Hutch rolled over onto his stomach and began to pull himself along the floor and out into the foyer. When he was almost to the door of the mansion, he heard Starsky behind him. He was crawling down the stairs, blood streaked behind him. Starsky reached the bottom stair and lay down on the cold marble floor. Hutch pulled out his gun and pointed it at Starsky but it slipped from his fingers and landed with a loud crack on the tile.

"I'm afraid, Starsky."

"I am too," Starsky breathed out. "Why did you do this, Hutch?"

"Do what?" Hutch called back as loud as he could, his lungs burning with the effort.

"You shot me!"

"I didn't shoot you. You shot _me_," Hutch breathed out through clenched teeth. He continued to pull himself toward the door.

Starsky's brow twisted in confusion. "No, I didn't."

Hutch stopped just as he reached the door. He looked back at Starsky then rolled over onto his back. He looked down at his bloody clothes and the trail of blood that he had made as he crawled from the library. Hutch pushed himself up. "Starsk, get up."

"I can't get up – I'm dying!"

Hutch stood up slowly and inspected his shirt. There was no bullet hole but it was soaked with blood. He could smell the coppery scent. He walked over to Starsky and reached out his hand to him. "No you aren't." Hutch grabbed onto Starsky's arm and pulled him to his feet. Together they inspected the front of Starsky's shirt and they saw there was no bullet wound, only blood. They looked at each other for a moment.

"Let's get out of here!" Hutch said. Without letting go of Starsky's arm, he pulled him toward the door. Once they reached the porch, Hutch looked down to see his shirt was now as clean as it was when they arrived. Starsky's clothes also had no blood stains.

They jumped down the steps and ran for the Torino. The tires squealed as it backed out of the drive and sped down the street.

Behind them Maurice and Lydia stood on the porch. "We almost got those two," she said with a sigh.

"There is always next year, my dear." They laughed and walked through the closed door and disappeared.

**The End**


End file.
